The Impersonator Parade

Maybe it's like a stamp in your passport, but I get the impression that once you're in Vegas, you're obliged to watch a certain number of impersonators perform before you're granted legal admittance.  Last night I checked off the big three--Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, and Neil Diamond.  I wouldn't have called Neil Diamond a part of the big three, but Vegas holds its own opinion.

The performers were all great singers.  I was particularly partial to Elvis.  The show was a little like concert meets Conner Prairie, which is to say that everything done by the performers during the show was done in character.  I suppose during any show a performer is self-consciously adhering to an act.  The odd thing about impersonators is that they are so obviously, self-consciously performing someone else's act.  I don't imagine that what I saw is anything like watching the original performers.  Rather, the impersonators represent the original on steroids, i.e., you have a Frank Sinatra who is trying to be more Frank than even Frank was.  I'm told that a lot of the performers have huge egos, and one wonders if their acts don't even reference an original act anymore; they merely reference the impersonator's own caricature.  It's very postmodern.

After the impersonator trilogy at the casino, we went to a dive bar jazz club just east of the strip.  The trio playing, made up of a drummer, pianist and bass player, were awesome.  They were joined by three lady bebop singers in turn, all of whom were also excellent.  A motley crew of musicians circulated throughout the crowd, and eventually Frank Sinatra from earlier in the evening appeared as well to play king of the club.

I met several of the performers throughout the evening, not really to talk to but just to shake hands.  Entertainer small chat centers on talking about other entertainers, present and absent.  Everyone is talented and beautiful.  All there is in the world is love, etc., etc., etc.  The vocabulary of the evening was very limited.  Jane Austen was never more prescient when she satirized every woman as being described as "accomplished."